diff --git a/test_mpsd-software.py b/test_mpsd-software.py
index 70340fceecd2da263e459bffb78f48953a55dc59..a18fb16210451d5f224e415a1550b61d2d8de952 100644
--- a/test_mpsd-software.py
+++ b/test_mpsd-software.py
@@ -456,14 +456,14 @@ def create_fake_environment(tmp_path, mpsd_release, expected_toolchain_map=None)
         toolchain_lmod_folder = (
             tmp_path / mpsd_release / microarch / "lmod" / "Core" / "toolchains"
         )
-        toolchain_lmod_folder.mkdir(parents=True)
+        toolchain_lmod_folder.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         spack_folder = tmp_path / mpsd_release / microarch / "spack"
-        spack_folder.mkdir(parents=True)
+        spack_folder.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         for toolchain in expected_toolchain_map[microarch]:
-            toolchain_file = toolchain_lmod_folder / f"{toolchain}.lua"
-            toolchain_file.touch()
+            toolchain_lua_file = toolchain_lmod_folder / f"{toolchain}.lua"
+            toolchain_lua_file.touch()
 
-    # check that the environment status is correct
+    return expected_toolchain_map
     toolchain_map = mod.environment_status(mpsd_release, tmp_path)
     # convert each list to a set to ensure that the order doesn't matter
     for microarch in expected_toolchain_map.keys():